Editors' Review

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is a surprisingly effective freeware antimalware tool. It's a relatively speedy malware remover, with the quick scan taking about 8 minutes even with other high-resource programs running. The heuristics engine proved on multiple computers during empirical testing that it was capable of determining the difference between false positives and dangerous apps.

The app has some nice features rolled in, too. It supports multiple drive scanning including networked drives, context menu options including a scan-on-demand for individual files, and the FileAssassin option under the More Tools section for removing locked files. The interface is simple, but pleasant-looking and well-organized. Tabs live just below the oversized logo, with few options per tab to keep down the clutter. The installation process was fast enough, but interestingly offered up the well-kept changelog and an instant definition file update.

Do note that the real-time protection is restricted to the paid version, as is the scheduler for updates and scans. Overall, though, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is a responsive malware remover that does what it should with a minimum of fuss.

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Publisher's Description

Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware is a high performance anti-malware application that thoroughly removes even the most advanced malware and spyware. With one of the fastest, most effective quick scans and malware removal capabilities on the market, this program is the perfect addition to your PC's defenses. The full version of the product includes a number of key features, including the ability to schedule updates and scans and most importantly, a real-time malware protection module that blocks malicious processes before they even start.

What's new in this version:

Fixed minor updating issues.

Fixed issue with trials expiring too early.

Fixed GUI language bugs.

Fixed issue where Ignore List was not honored by the Protection Module.

Fixed issue where limited users were prompted to update an outdated database.

The full scan can be a little long to run but appears to be worth it since it seems to be quite good at finding "hidden" nuisances.

Summary

I already have a good anti-malware software program installed on my computer so it is more than sufficient to run the freeware version of this software manually every few days. It only takes a few moments to obtain the updates which appear every day to keep the software running smoothly. If it has been more than 7 days, the software will remind you to look for new updates. All in all, this appears to be an excellent freeware product and I would recommend it as a backup tool to look for problems which are just waiting to crash your computer.

I enjoyed this product for a long time and it was a very efficient product up until a month or so ago. At that time it started blocking all my favorite and frequently used and well trusted websites. No warning , just straight blockage. I actually did not know that was a problem until I visited the forums and found that other people had the same problem.

I've had this on my pc for just over a year, when the tech guy did a home service to remove a virus. He installed this for me and since, have had no malware probs. Tho I do also have other anti-malware stuff now on my pc as well.

Cons

The full scans take super long.

Summary

This program has never interfered with other safeguards on my pc, not even the recently installed - Norton's Anti-virus. It has also caught problems that were not made aware to me by Norton's. I like it as an extra protection, and, its free!

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